Kite Shielded Lunatics

I started with the Normans, they can be fielded as most of the European Feudal armies. Two very different armies are also quite fun, viz Komnenan Byzantine (a regular knight/steppe army) and Feudal French (an Irregular Kn(S) army. Anyway, here are some of the troops that operated in my Norman army in over 20 tourney battles in 1995-98.

		William the Bastard (rear, with Papal banner ex tapestry) watches as Bishop Odo leads the small reserve force in column of march. This small 5 knight unit, backed up by 10 squires etc (Horde) for bulk gave huge flexibility to the irregular, impetuous Norman army. Column of march is extremely manouverable as no pip penalty is payed, and it can break out impetuously in any direction (most dramatically sideways) in the dreaded "Norman Mounted Display Team" tactic
		The Feudal French are a fairly simple morph - on the left is the pride of my Norman chivalry, but in this case they are in Feudal French Kn(S) mode c 1150 as the red Banner of St Denis (the famous Oriflamme) is flying.
		Breton scouts ahead of the Breton heavies in the early morning mist....the unimpetuous Light Horse and Cavalry of the Breton ally are very useful in a Norman army for skirmishing or taking on enemy Light Horse, especially LH(S)
		Norman dismounted knights or heavy infantry. The ability of Norman knights to dismount adds hugely to their flexibility. In the Norman list, the option to field spearmen as militia Sp(I) or mercenary Sp(O) also adds to the flexibility.
		Norman Italian/Sicilian lighter infantry, a very useful option against some enemies.
		Norman Firepower as it likes it - en masse, with secure flanks. This can usually defeat any horse except Kn(S), and all except the best foot....and this is just the filler in the command, the Knights are doing the business elsewhere! These are actually Lombards, but they did sterling service in the Norman tournament army for 3 years and in the Dark Age armies
		More of the formidable archery battery that a Norman army is capable of putting down, these are armoured crossbowmen. The Norman shooting capability differentiated it then among western armies, as now in DBM
		The Empire Strikes Back - Komnenan Byzantine is essentially a combination of mercenaries - mainly Normans and Steppe troops - and a small Byzantine core. These are the Byzantine Kavallarioi. In 1155 the Empire re-invaded Italy, allowing you to re-field a lot of the Norman army as Italian troops serving as Byzantine mercenaries and allies.

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